Saturday, 21 April 2012

Record Bore Day, more like

I was messing around on Youtube, listening to this thrilling fifteen minutes of pop music from Prolapse...

... and thinking back to when I used to rush down to Selectadisc (bottom shop, the one where the fearsome Linda worked) to buy the band's new singles when my dole money came through. Today is Record "Store" Day, of course - a concept that has been hijacked by every money-grubbing band and record label to try and get some poor saps to go and queue up outside their local record SHOP and spend a fortune on a ridiculously limited edition seven inch single.

You have to ask yourself whether Coldplay need to put a l,000 limited edition single. But then you have to ask yourself whether Coldplay have to put records out at all.

I find Record Store Day particularly sickly. I know it's hardly killing children with bombs, but it's not far off. Queueing up outside a record shop is ridiculous, if you really think about it. And for what? To say you've actually got something. To buy a product. You're queuing up to buy a product. Think about it. you're not saving the world, here. And, to be fair, you're probably not claiming to, but please, Record Store Day, don't make out you've got anything to do with trying to kick against the pricks, because you're not.

Record Store Day is, on the whole, praised and patronised by the sort of people who call tiny scenes like indiepop 'elitest', but that's bollocks. Record Store Day is pompous, elitest and self-satisfied.

We're all going back to work on Monday, comrades. Still, at least you've got your hands on something only a 1,000 people have got, eh?

My contribution to Record Store Day is to point you towards the excellent new download-only single from Pale Man Made called 'In Your Bed'. It's available, without queuing up and tweeting about queuing up, from Oddbox Records FREE OF CHARGE from this link.